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Pours a murky copper, dark brown hybrid color with an extremely fluffy beige head; cloud-like and lasting nearly all the way down the glass, the head is one of the most unique ones I've seen. I love the way this beer looks and I love the way the head seems to pillow up forever.

Slightly fruity nose with a touch of funk, cork, and barnyard hay; berries, apples, grapes, and peaches seem to fill out the fruit bill. Can't quite put my finger on whether or not this beer is going to lean more towards the funk side or more towards the tart side. Warming up lets the funk get a bit stronger, but the fruits never recess too much.

The taste hits tart and sour at first, which mellows out rather quickly from sour to sweet in the form of light berries and drenched peaches. The barnyard funk hits halfway through and lasts until the end, also leaving the largest impression in the aftertaste. Murky, funky, corky; think of hay, wet wood, and funky, old cheese.

On paper, the flavor profile sounds gross, but works for this type of brew. However, it's a little too dominant here. The sweetness and sour element of the beer just isn't strong enough to balance the heavy funk; I'm sure some funk-lovers out there will enjoy the crass funkiness of this brew, but I would like to see a bit more tart/sour balance. Thin-medium body with a heavy dose of carbonation.

A little lacking in the flavor department from the sweet and sour sides, making the funk stand out a little more than it needs to. Not a bad beer, but this likely won't be a revisit for me, mainly because JP makes so many other delicious beers.

A- Pours an excellent dark fluid with nice one inch off white head that falls to a thick frothy top leaving decent patchy lacing behind.

S- Smell is tangy and sour fruits... cherries, apples and grapes. Small amounts of farmyard funk show itself in the back of the nose... wet blanket?

T-M- Taste is original in the fact i've never tasted a farmhouse that is as light and watery as this one... not a bad thing though. I'll explain. Upfront this brew packs a smooth sour tang that is then followed by a thick brett farmhouse funk. Simple but has all the flavors to keep me drinking this large bottle of beer to the end. Pouring some of the yeast in the bottom in the beer to see if flavor is changed... Just more funky yeast and brett flavors not bad. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy with light carbonation rolling over the buds that only make the light tartness of the beer taste better.

D- Drinkablity is exceptional and I would love to get more of these but they are out of season and i've bought the last one at my store... cheers!

First sip brings a lightly toasted dry malt mixing with a kiss of cocoa and a touch of plum and black cherry. Spicy, earthy yeast tones meld into a well pronounced tartness with wild yeast funkiness. Finishes really dry with wood and oak barrel afterthoughts. A mild, easy drinking brew but I was hoping for a bit more flavor wise overall.

Mouthfeel is light and arid with fast moving carbonation. This one floats over the palate and is incredibly easy to drink. Would be very refreshing on a hot day, too bad it's freezing right now in Chicago. Overall, I was hoping for a little bit more of a robust flavor here, but in the end it's still a tasty variation of Bam. Pairs well with some 6 year old cheddar as well.

Bottle pours a clear and dark mahogany body, topped by a large beige head that has excellent retention. Abundant patchy and curtain lacing decorates the glass.

Very nice aroma is almost perfumey. Herbal, grassy, and minty, with floral and spicy notes. A hint of yeast, lemon zest, and coriander contribute to a very saison-like nose.

Mouthfeel is the only weak point here, as it seems much too thin. Light medium body has an effervescent carbonation.

Taste is dry and herbal with coriander and white pepper notes. Some lemon and green apple tartness add a nice edge. A cola note and a vague hint of dark fruits are the only indication of darker malts. Finishes clean and even with a hint of funk.

The dark color belies a very solid, lighter bodied saison. Highly drinkable and on a par with some of Jolly Pumpkin's other outstanding ales.

Large bottle, "Batch 255", pours dark plummy dark tan head, initially huge, then fairly quickly down to islands and wildly lacing the glass. Just some slight cola and hints of earthy horse infused funk in the nose. I have a hard time getting a good take on these Jolly P beers. I dont drink em that often and when I do they always seem somehow hard to figure out. Have they gone south in the bottle or are they supposed to be slightly over carbonated, then somewhat thin taste wise and then wild and funky? Anyway, I'll go with the wild and funky thing here, as this one seems fresh and in good shape. Notes of more cola, wood, tang, slight barnyard funkyness, moderatly sour, with just light malts and minor to no hops. Interesting, lively and active brew, its alive and vibrant in the mouth. Give this one a try if you like some sourness and are able to find a bottle or two in you area.

The beer pours a medium to dark brown color with a fluffy white head that hangs around until all the beer is gone. The aroma is quite a bit of Belgian yeast, along with some dark fruit, toffee and a little bit of brettanomyces character. The flavor is much heavier on the brett, as I get a lot of leather and orange citrus notes, as well as lemons, a slight bit of funk, toffee and yeast. The beer is very dry and is very easy to drink. Medium mouthfeel and a high, biting carbonation.

Bam Noire (batch 426, if you keep track of that sort of thing) smells distinctively Flemish, with strong fermented apple cider notes wafting from the bottle. Hints of orange and pear lie just beneath, with a light background of spice (coriander and clove).

On the tongue, these flavors translate almost directly for the first half of the mouthful, with the apple cider winning heftily over the lighter fruits and spices. The second half of the mouthful, however, takes on a characteristic all its own, with the sour flavors kicking into an overdrive that would leave fighter pilots envious. Unfortunately, this isn't a good thing, as the extra boost of sour makes the beer taste less purposefully, and more accidentally sour--as if it had been left out in the light for too long. Instead of apple cider sour, the brew tailspins out of control and becomes partially-rotten-apple-cider sour. Mouthfeel is light, and carbonation is extreme, making this reviewer think he should have left the bottle open in the fridge for a half-hour or so to deflate.

Overall, I can't say as I'd recommend this one, which is a shame, as the first half of the taste was so good.

Bam Noire is not the beer that I signed up for when I drank it. It is a dark saison, which is unusual, but sounded interesting to me. However, as I am realizing with many JP beers, it tastes very much like all of the other beers they make that are barrel-aged, they just have a weird funk, with just a tinge of tartness. Bam Noire though was not good. I suspect the base beer before barrel treatment was probably very phenolic and plastic tasting from fermentation that ran too hot, because the finished beer is just not good. I can taste the fermentation flaws and combined with the barrel, it tastes like old water passed through a sun soaked plastic hose that is run through an old leather glove. I spent a fair bit of money on this beer and most people that drank it agreed that it was not good. One of the few occasions that I have drain poured a beer.

Appears a dark plum ruby amber hue with yeast sediments floating abroad streaming upward from the bottom with the bubbles from the fine carbonation, forms a nice sized light beige head with dimples from the stream that I poured into my glass. Aroma has tart raisins with green apples flowing with tobacco leaf qualities galore as I dig deeper it's more of the same with some cider and mild vinegar tones. Flavor brings dry dark chocolate edges with soft fruity sweetness rounding out the dry tart edges, herbal qualities from the hopping flows freely and comes out very notably here. Body is medium with very nice spritzy fine carbonation that carries the body much lighter than it actually is, much like a farmhouse schwarzbier really flows well on the palate. Really leaves a dry palate with each sip, due to the tart sourness this beer contains each sip really leaves nothing in the finish besides a dry puckering effect. Drinkability overall is great and purchased a couple standard Bam's to compare this variation side by side, I love Jolly Pumpkin this dark version a farmhouse ale is no different quality and the little doggy is sporting bat wings I guess it's the right time of year for it.